OLD SKOOL

OLD SKOOL, originally uploaded by Patrick Q.

Here's my desktop. Like my vintage lego figure? I think he's confused; is he teaching geography or addition? My workspace is pretty sparse: count the icons. How many icons do you have? What kind of wallpaper? How often do you change it? What do the answers to these questions say about you as a person?

COUNTRIES I'VE VISITED/LIVED IN

create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

STATES I'VE VISITED

create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

Well, I haven't technically visited Washington state yet, but I thought I'd go ahead and check it. Try this out. It's fun to see a map of where you have been. (Gasp! Did I just say that maps were fun? Dad would be so proud!)

MY FLICKR BADGE

MY FLICKR BADGE, originally uploaded by Patrick Q.

at least I have a fun hobby to fall back on...

MESS

I can't function in this mess anymore! I'm tired of living in piles of crates and boxes. Everything I own is stored in the room where I am sleeping and I can't take it anymore! [It is a very big room but the boxes are piled to the ceiling.] When I moved back in with my folks after Katrina, we just piled everything up helter skelter. But the haphazard mess makes me feel like a mess, myself.

So this week I'm moving out of the grief stage and into the anger stage. And I'm channeling that energy into unpacking and organizing. After the storm, I wished that there was nothing to salvage. I just didn't wan't to deal with stuff at that moment. Isn't that terrible; I felt a little guilty about wishing I had lost everything and gotten an insurance check. Oh, well; can't deny my failings.

So I'm getting it organized so that I can sell all of it; I don't want to see any of it ever again. When I start to auction it off on eBay, I'll put a link here so you can bid on it. LOL. Just think, someday you might own my lamp or spatula... You could say, "Hey, this used to belong to Patrick before he pulled a Dave Chappelle and ran away from his mess of a life; I got it for next to nothing at auction."

I'm not trying to be negative in this; just honest about where I am right now. I read back over the last entries I've made since returning to America and realized that I have been talking about pop culture because I didn't want to face the real issues I need to deal with. But here they are in black and white. That's as good of a first step as I can make.

ARTIST TRADING CARDS

resolution-atcs, originally uploaded by kaleidoscopic-kris.

Have you ever heard of Artists' Trading Cards? I hadn't until today, but I'm hooked. I can't wait to find an old deck of cards and start making my own. If you designed one, what would you put on it?

WHO WILL BE THE NEXT IDOL?

Well, so far I've narrowed it down to my top four. Here they are for your viewing pleasure. Let me know which you think should win the title. By the way, I used to make fun of people who watched this show, but I really think these 4 have talent, so they've won me over...

HOPEFUL #4

HOPEFUL #3

HOPEFUL #2

HOPEFUL #1

CRYIN'

cryin', originally uploaded by goodbyepisces.

GRIEF

Mourning with you...sorry Washington about your Super Bowl loss...

MY FAVORITE THINGS

A&W Wuppets, originally uploaded by Neato Coolville.

Here's the short this of some favorite things (in addition to pom pom A&W Wuppets) --

First line to get rid of automatic indent

Running on a Saturday morning

Floppy-eared dogs

Contrast

Innovation

Piano music so beautiful it makes me cry

Playing with toys

The feel of paper

Hot bread & butter

Spiced Chai Latte

Making a new friend

Burying myself in the bed with a book

Pulling on comfortable shoes

Learning something new

Birthday parties

Taking snapshots

Telling stories

Originality

Color-drenched photographs

Vinyl LP’s

Words

A FLICKR FAVORITE

Autumn Walk, originally uploaded by moonjuice.

If you haven't checked out flickr, what are you waiting for? Stop by, pick a few favorites, join a group or two, maybe even start one of your own... Get goin', why don'tcha?

GOSSIP AND POLITICS

The State of the Union got me thinking about gossip and politics. Here are my thoughts.

Most people from Judeo-Christian backgrounds would probably profess to hating gossip. Even the gossips would admit that it's a vice needing repentance.

But what about Historians? Do they need to repent of their wicked ways? After all, isn't history just plain-ol' gossip about dead people?

And here's a similar thought I heard attributed to Jay Leno that I think bears repeating: Isn't Politics really just Show Business for ugly people?

Any thoughts?

FEVER

I've got the Fever...(but not for Pringles). I formed another group on flickr, bringing the total up to 2 within 24 hours. I sent out invitations, and people are joining! Fun, right?

So here are the links in case you want to check them out:

RECOLORED

WELCOME HOME

INVITATION

Here's an open invitation: Any and all are welcome to join my new group on flickr - Here's a link. I searched and couldn't find another one like it to join, so I made my own. The name of the group is RECOLORED.

PUNKY POWER!

photo snagged from soaresantiques.com

I was talking to Pauline about Kangaroo Tennis Shoes. As kids, we both had a pair of them. Mine had zippers on the side pockets; hers had velcro. I used the pockets to store 2 dimes - my milk money for the day. Do you remember those shoes? They looked stylin' with my tight-rolled jeans or my parachute pants, Ocean Pacific shirt, Swatch, friendship bracelets and friendship beads.

Dukes of Hazard lunchboxes...Izod shirts...Garbage Pail Kids stickers and cards...Transformers and MASK... Can you believe all of these things are sold at ANTIQUE STORES now? Can you believe that The Cosby Show and The Facts of Life are played on oldies TV stations now?

What do you remember about the '80's? Need to jog your memory? Check out RETRO JUNK. I especially enjoyed their video collections.